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Oak Creek Town Board member arrested

Lawrence Jaconetta in custody on suspicion of harassment, menacing

Nicole Inglis
Oak Creek Town Board member Lawrence Jaconetta was booked into Routt County Jail on Friday morning.
Courtesy photo

— Oak Creek Town Board member Lawrence Jaconetta, 35, was booked into Routt County Jail on Friday morning on suspicion of harassment and menacing, both misdemeanors, for reportedly making threatening phone calls to a South Routt resident.

According to the affidavit, Jaconetta allegedly made several angry phone calls to Maynard Short in response to a letter Short wrote to the editor of the Steamboat Pilot & Today about medical marijuana in Oak Creek. The letter was published in the April 24 edition of the newspaper.

According to the affidavit, Short said Jaconetta expressed disagreement with the content of Short’s letter and made threatening statements in the phone calls, which began at 5 p.m. Thursday.



On the second call, Jaconetta reportedly left a message that asked Short to call him back “or I will be hunting you down, day or night,” according to the affidavit.

The affidavit said the following message included remarks threatening that Short’s concerns “might be justified in an obituary” better than in the newspaper.



In the final message, left at about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Jaconetta reportedly called Short a coward.

Short called police at about 10 p.m. and Routt County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Jacob Carlson met with Short at his home in Phippsburg. Short told Carlson he feared for his life.

Carlson arrested Jaconetta and booked him into jail Friday morning. At a Routt County Court appearance at 1 p.m. Friday, Judge James Garrecht set bail at $750.

Jaconetta, who was elected to the Oak Creek Town Board in April 2010, did not attend Thursday’s Oak Creek Town Board meeting. Mayor Nikki Knoebel said Jaconetta expressed an interest in resigning before the meeting but has not officially resigned his position.


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